SPIES AND THEIR METHODS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2796, 14 June 1916, Page 5

SPIES AND THEIR METHODS

DODGING DETECTION AT THE , rRONT, We have heard a good deal during the war of the arts of spies in our midst— of letters in invisible ink written between the lines of an innocent communication; of messages inscribed in lemonjuice in magazines and papers, and so on. But these are the mere ABC of the guilty craft, with which our officials know well how to deal. The arts employed nearer the firingline are far more subtle. There; when a man is captured', soldier or civilian, he is always a suspect. Ho may be out to gather information to carry back to the enemy; ho may be a medium bearing (•omo treacherous message from an enemy to a hidden spy in our own linas. A soldier catches him, hands him over, and perhaps thinks Nothing mire of the matter. .But "a refined method of examination follows. The suspect's boots are carefully scrutinised; the soles and heels are neatly slit open to see if they contain hidden writing. His buttons are opened, liis hair is combed out, eyes search deep into his mouth.

A message written on the tliinnest paper may be rolled up and' concealed in a walking-stick, in a tooth-pick, in a pencil-case; it may be stitched into some unsuspected portion of the clothing. But their aro other ways in operation, as an Austrian Teport shows. . One lady. was examined who had her arms in a slifig and a casing of plaster of Paris. The casing was removed, and within the plaster was found, a perfectly sound arm wrapped in military documents. Another woman was found to have notes .written on lier back in invisible ink. In olden days a spy would have his head shaved and a message'written .upon his bare scalp. When his hair had grown he would be sent off with, his report, where his head would be shaved afresh and the vital message read. Such a man was a human document indeed. Another common practice was to enclose a message in a quUl or a silver tube, make ari> opening in the flesh, let the wound heal over, and send the messenger away, a walking bureau of information, which could bo neatly extracted by the merest touch of the lancet. Codes and ciphers are, of course, .common to all ages. One of the earliest 6eems'to "have been a irvti-. lated message. Tho information. to r be sent would bo written on parchment, the parchment would bo cut into strips, and each strip would be bound round a thin piece of wood or bone, each part, being given to a different man. Tho messengers would make their,way by different routes to the same goalj and there the pieces of parchment" would be put together. . An amazing amount of information can be. packed into small space. The Duke of Wellington used to employ an old priest as a spy in the war with Napoleon. Tho priest would' saunter off into the French lines, bestowing blessings and benedictions riglit and left, gathering information, and then sauntering away. Retiring to a private place he would'take the finest of pens, write a long message in the smallest space, screw up his paper, put it into the quill of a pen, and lazily jog back to the British' lines.There he would slowly sidle his'.wayltio' the Duke, who, on seeing him, would make towards his tent, as if to buy eomo of" the quill pens tho old priest was-displaying for sale. Protending to be rather angry with' the old man for pestering him with his wares, the Duke would at last take some particular pen which the priest indicated. Then he would retire to his tent,, and, closing it behind him, cautiously open the pen, pull out his magnifying glass, and read the message—The. "little Paper."-